1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a locking system, and more particularly relates to a locking system used to securely lock a door of an enclosure such as a safe, vault, or other enclosure.
2. Related Art
A safe, vault, or other secure enclosure may be utilized to store items. Locking systems have been developed for such structures, in order to help prevent compromise of the items stored therein.
A variety of systems for locks and doors have been developed, such as, for example: U.S. Pat. No. 131,699 for IMPROVEMENT IN BOLTS FOR SAFES, DOORS, &c. issued to L. H. Miller on Sep. 24, 1872; U.S. Pat. No. 393,883 for SAFE OR VAULT DOOR LOCK issued to W. M. Brown, Jr. on Dec. 4, 1888; U.S. Pat. No. 636,325 for SAFE LOCK issued to C. Eyster on Nov. 7, 1899; U.S. Pat. No. 874,833 for FASTENER FOR REFRIGERATOR DOORS issued to L. G. Coon on Dec. 24, 1907; U.S. Pat. No. 1,173,068 for LOCKING MECHANISM FOR SAFE OR VAULT DOORS issued to H. C. Von Philp on Feb. 22, 1916; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,366,015 for SAFETY LOCK MECHANISM issued to J. Morris on Jan. 18, 1921.
Additional systems for locks and doors have been developed, such as, for example: U.S. Pat. No. 1,554,700 for DOOR LATCH OPERATING DEVICE issued to F. A. Anderson on Sep. 22, 1925; U.S. Pat. No. 2,460,961 for QUICK-ACTING SECURING MEANS FOR WATERTIGHT DOORS issued to D. G. Wilson on Feb. 8, 1949; U.S. Pat. No. 2,511,268 for BULKHEAD DOOR AND THE LIKE AND FASTENING MEANS FOR SAME issued to Karl L. Schiff on Jun. 13, 1950; U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,715 for TOGGLE-TYPE SAFE DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM issued to William D. Squires on Jul. 5, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,102 for MECHANICAL SECURITY DEVICE FOR DOORS issued to James Pitman on Jun. 25, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,920 for PANEL FOR CLOSING AN OPENING, AND CLIP SYSTEM FOR USE AS A PART THEREOF issued to Jan de Rover on Aug. 2, 1994.
Further systems for locks and doors have been developed, such as, for example: U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,247 for MULTI-POINT HIGH SECURITY LOCKING MECHANISM FOR LOTTERY MACHINES issued to Gavin M. Monson on Dec. 5, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,764 for PIVOTING DOOR OF THE TYPE HAVING AT LEAST ONE LEAF OF WHICH TWO BARS ARE MOUNTED IN PARALLEL BY MEANS OF LINKS issued to Alix Guy-Paul on Aug. 15, 2000; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,479 for CLOSURE FOR A HINGED STERILIZER DOOR issued to John C. Houston on Nov. 20, 2001.
The references listed above may provide a variety of advantages. However, in view of the foregoing, it is believed that there is still a need for a new lock assembly for a door of an enclosure which can provide a more convenient, reliable, and more secure manner of protecting the contents stored in the enclosure, having a simplified operation and a minimum number of moving parts.
Accordingly, further improvements in lock assemblies and systems for doors of enclosures can be envisioned.